SEATTLE — Tyler Lockett made this coming week for the Seahawks far better than it could have been.
Without the rookie third-round pick’s electrifying debut Friday, Seattle wouldn’t have a ton to be happy about while looking ahead to next weekend’s second preseason game at Kansas City.
That’s how reassuring the rookie third-round draft choice from Kansas State was in his first “game” for the team that traded four choices in May to move up in the draft and get him. He single-handedly — double-footedly, really — rescued the Seahawks from what would have been a wholly underwhelming preseason opener against a Denver team that left its starters in far longer than Seattle did and eventually won 22-20.
The Seahawks’ starting offensive line with new starters Lemuel Jeanpierre (for traded Pro Bowler Max Unger at center) and Alvin Bailey (for departed free agent James Carpenter at left guard) was as porous as it has been in training camp. Russell Wilson got sacked and lost a fumble at his own 11 on the game’s second play. He got dumped again on the next drive.
It was an almost across-the-line failing. Second-year right tackle Justin Britt allowed Denver’s rush end Von Miller to run around him for the first sack. Right guard J.R. Sweezy got pushed back and left tackle Russell Okung seemed turned around on the second sack. Wilson completed his only other pass call in nine plays over two drives that netted 25 yards and three first downs: And he had to roll outside on a bootleg play to do it, for 12 yards to new tight end Jimmy Graham.
“We’ve got a lot to work on, overall,” said Jeanpierre, Unger’s backup for five seasons who will continue to get a push from Drew Nowak for the starting center job next week in training camp.
“We were slow. No one feels good about that, at all.”
Jeanpierre said communication was a problem against Denver. That’s an issue that starts with him, the traffic cop of the line that makes the pre-snap reads and calls.
“We’ve just got to get better.”
The defensive secondary sustained yet another injury. Newly acquired Mohammed Seisay pulled his groin, though Carroll said he doesn’t believe it is serious. Chris Matthews, the wide receiver and Super Bowl hero Feb. 1, sustained an AC (acromioclavicular) joint sprain. That’s a shoulder separation, the result of trying to recover a fumbled punt return by the Broncos.
No. 2 quarterback Tarvaris Jackson could be out “a little bit, of course we are concerned,” Carroll said. A Denver defender rolled up on his ankle and sprained it on the first drive of the third quarter.
The first- and second-team defense allowed Denver’s Brock Osweiler to complete 15 of 20 dink-and-dunk throws and convert four of eight third downs without being sacked. Seattle got out-gained 240 yards to 29 in the first half. It ended with the Broncos leading 19-10 instead of 19-3 only because of Lockett’s zooming, 103-yard kickoff return.
While the coaches and players focus on fixes, those outside team headquarters are spending the weekend marveling over Lockett returning another kickoff 46 yards and escaping for an 18-yard punt return that was all improvisation.
“We drafted him with the thought that he might give us a real spark in an area that we wanted to find a way to improve and be more dynamic. He did that,” Carroll said. “I think the creative return on the punt return was really nice to see. He started one way and got bottled up, and had the speed to get back around.
“Also, on the big kickoff, lots of times guys make that break and they start to turn the corner, and they get run down at the 30-yard line. He finished it, and that’s 4.3 (speed), and it showed up. A lot of fast guys tried to get him, and he turned the corner.”
Lockett is known in Kansas as a self-assured man of process, a son of K-State’s former career receiving leader Frank Lockett who internalized Wildcats coach Bill Snyder’s system to become a Heartland wonder. But even he was taken aback by what he did in his first NFL showcase.
“It’s a little bit more than I could have imagined,” he said.
“Nobody understands or knows what their debut is going to be like. There’s a million thoughts that go through your head, especially when you play a night game. Anything can happen and you just kind of have to run with it and go with the flow. Luckily I was blessed enough to have a game like this. … I felt the very first time I was out there it got a lot faster. But after that was over it was the same. It was the same as college to me.”
That comfort and poise is why Seattle general manager John Schneider and Carroll traded from the bottom to the top of the third round with Washington to get him.
He said Seahawks veteran such as Doug Baldwin told him to simply rely on his instincts.
“Don’t think too much, because when you think is when you make mistakes and stuff like that,” Lockett said. “So I really just try to go out there and play off of instincts. The coaches know we’re going to make mistakes and stuff like that and it’s all about correcting and not making the same mistake again. You have to be able to play mistake-free. You can’t worry about making mistakes.”
No worrying with Lockett in practice game No. 1.
Seattle’s late-game standouts included undrafted rookie T.Y. McGill from Wilson’s former North Carolina State. The defensive tackle spent most of the second, third and fourth quarters with Cassius Marsh and top rookie draft choice Frank Clark in Denver’s backfield.
Carroll singled out McGill with praise following the game. That usually means a move up the depth chart in practice the following week.
Wide receiver B.J. Daniels, the former No. 3 quarterback, caught two of the four passes thrown near him and returned his first kickoff in the second quarter 35 yards. And former University of Washington wide receiver Kevin Smith got Carroll’s praise for two catches for 36 yards on consecutive completions by otherwise erratic (again) third QB R.J. Archer in the third quarter.
Smith blew out his knee in practice the week before the Alamo Bowl in December 2012 during his junior season at UW. He got his first catch by contorting himself back toward Archer’s poor throw far behind him.
There are jobs to win at wide receiver, especially with Matthews now out indefinitely. Smith made a big step toward one of those.
“Gosh, he sure did. He had two great plays and good finishes on catches,” Carroll said. “It was really cool to see that. He’s been really active in camp and done very, very well for us. The catch on the one behind him was a fantastic grab, to hang on, and he got whacked, too. So a good showing.”
But not as great as Lockett’s first one.
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